Puran Poli – Sweet Flatbread

Puran Poli is a sweet flatbread with a sweet lentil filling. This is a popular bread in states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Puran poli is a wonderful breakfast dish, and can also be served as snack.

Makes 10 Puran Poli

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of whole wheat flour (atta)

¼ cup all purpose/plain flour (maida)

2 tablespoons oil

Approximately 1/3 cup water

Filling

¾ cup toor dal (arhar dal)(available in Indian grocery stores)

1 cup sugar

½ teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon cardamom powder (eliachi)

¼ teaspoon nutmeg (jaiphal)

Also Needed

Approximately 3 tablespoons oil

Approximately ½ cup of dry whole wheat to roll the bread

Method

Filling

Wash and soak the toor dal in two cups of water for at least four hours. Dal will double in volume after soaking. Discard any
remaining water.

Add toor dal and turmeric to two cups of water and cook in a heavy pan over medium high heat. When dal boils, remove the yellow
foam from the top. Reduce the heat to medium and cover the pan.

Let it cook for 25 minutes, adding more water if needed. Dal should be very soft and mushy.

Add sugar and cook until the dal looks like paste and start to hold together. Add cardamom and nutmeg powder and mix well. The
dal filling will be very soft and sticky.

Dough

In a bowl, mix whole-wheat flour, all purpose flour, and oil; add water slowly to make very soft dough. The dough should not stick
to your fingers. Cover the dough and set it aside. Let it rest at least ten minutes.

Making Puran Poli

Divide both the dough and the dal filling into ten equal parts. The parts of dal filling should be about 2½ times that of the dough balls.

Roll the dough balls into 2½”-diameter circles. Place one part of the filling in the center of each. Seal by pulling the edges of the rolled dough together to make a ball. Proceed to make all ten balls. Let the filled balls settle three to four minutes.

Heat the skillet on medium high heat. To test, sprinkle a couple of drops of water on the skillet. The water should sizzle right away.

Press the filled ball, lightly on both sides on a surface covered with dry whole wheat flour.

Lay the balls on the sealed side up and lightly press into circles about 2” in diameter. Roll the balls gently into 5” circles. If the dough sticks to the rolling pin or rolling surface, lightly sprinkle dry whole wheat flour on both sides of the semi-rolled puran poli.

Place the puran poli in the skillet. When start to change color, flip it over. You will notice some golden-brown spots.

After a few seconds, spread one teaspoon of oil on the puran poli. Flip them again and lightly press the puffed areas with a spatula. Flip
again and press with the spatula making sure the puran poli are golden-brown on both sides.

Repeat same process for the remaining.

Puran poli is ready to be served and it tastes best when eaten hot.

Tips

1. When cooking the dal, use a large pot to prevent it from boiling over, as this can happen very easily.

2. Cooked Puran Poli can be stored for a week in the refrigerator. Re-heat over a skillet or in the toaster oven.

Variation
Puran Poli can also be prepared using Chana dal, however, it has to cook for a slightly longer time.

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42 thoughts on “Puran Poli – Sweet Flatbread”

I think I jumped the gun a bit when posting my previous comment…. I posted it before I actually rolled them out and fried them. I was not able to roll them out to 5″ as suggested in your recipe as the filling started to ooze out from the sides. I managed to roll them out to about 3″. Please tell what did I do wrong!!! I used the chana dal filling.

I made Puran poli’s for the first time and they turned out . All thanks to you. But I wanted to ask is it possible to store the mixture and then use it later. Coz I dont have time to use the whole mixture .
Thanks

Hi. The chana daal puran is a maharashtrian recipe and is bit dry and thin.
The toor daal recipe is gujarati recipe which has a bit wet stuffing and is made thicker than the chana daal one. And yes actually we male it with jaggery also. It also tastes good

Hello mam. I love ur recipes, I wanted to know if there are reciepe books available I would love to buy them, as I’m gettin married into a family where no onion and garlic is allowed. So please do let me know. Thank you

Hi…I tried Puran Poli…and my husband loved it…the only difference was I used pressure cooker. Also my puran was not very dry to make balls so I kept it in freezer for 10 mins…and everythg went perfect….Thanks Aunty..Love your recipes!!!

I have a party at my house coming up in a fortnight. I am wondering if I can make a large quantities of puran polis in advance and keep it in the fridge. My question is: Will the polis stick together and break if I take it out on the day of the party? Please let me know. If yes, how can I prevent from polis sticking together. Thanks

hi mam,
i am a big fan of ur receipes.. The way u prepare itself i liked.. i tried most of ur receipes.. i tried poli also.. In my places v used to make that puran with beswan dhal.. but this is the first time i tried with toor dhal.. its nice and very yummy… thank u mam
rajirajesh

Very good recipe and so well explained. I always thought puran poli was very difficult to make. You make it seem so simple. In Maharashtra, chana dal and jaggery are used for the filling. I like the filling of tur dal and sugar too.

Thank you Manjula for this bread recipe. This looks very good and I know it must taste great. Is it okay to put raisins, crushed nuts, dates, and cinnamon in the filling or will these items alter the your recipe too much? My wife and I enjoy your recipes so much. Thanks

Hi Aunty
I thought the filling for Puran Poli’s were made with chana dal & Jaggrey. Never heard of Toor Dal & sugar for filling. Kindly clarify?
Will try your method too.
Thank you for your time and response,
Jayashree

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